Vintage Classics Illustrated Junior comic book published by Famous Authors, Ltd., which was a division of Gilberton Company, Inc. or Gilberton Publications. This is The Three Fairies comic book, No. 537 (Number 537), with 15 cents price on cover, dated on the inside April 1957. We think this is a first edition of this comic. The listing on the back cover of other comic books available in the series ends with the next comic in this series, No. 538 Silly Hans (HRN #538). But on half of the inside front cover there is an ad announcing, "Coming Next Month, Silly Hans" with a description of that comic. So we believe that the publisher added comic No. 538 Silly Hans to the list on the back cover even though this was a first edition of The Three Fairies, comic No. 537. This book is not the new reprint (there is no UPC block on this book). Please note that we have two copies of this The Three Fairies comic and are listing each separately as "A" and "B".

All the Classics Illustrated and Classics Illustrated Junior comic books we are listing came out of the same home where they were purchased as new items for their children in the 1950's and 1960's, so these are not recent reprints. The Classics Illustrated Junior comic books are generally in good/very good or acceptable reading condition but are definitely not mint, showing varying levels of age and wear which will be detailed. All were read and handled by children and thus show expected handling wear. All have interior pages which are browned at the edges, looking overall with an aged paper look, that is, the interior pages are not white as they would have been originally. All have an old comic book smell, not bad, but there if you go sniffing. Many have a child's name or initial noticeably written on the front cover in ink or crayon (and a few have more writing on the cover). For many the interior "connect the dots" illustration has been done or the interior coloring page has been colored.

This The Three Fairies comic is a very good/good copy overall, but does have a child's first name written prominently on the cover in crayon with the first letter initial also written nearby in blue ink pen (see image). The connect the dots picture on half of the inside front cover has been completed in pencil (and you can see the strong reverse imprint from the first letter initial written hard on the reverse/front cover side). The coloring page on the inside back cover has been partially colored in crayon on the lady's clothing with a bit on her face and the water (probably about 10-15% of the picture has been colored at most). The comic does have usual age reading use/wear including on the front cover the impressions from the connect the dots picture done on the reverse side, impressions from other writing/dots/lines (a piece of paper must have been placed on top of this comic and a good bit of writing was done on that paper, you only see this when you look at an angle in bright light but it is there), general wrinkling/creasing/handling wear, bending/chipping wear along the top, bottom and right side edges, wear/paper wear along the left bound/stapled edge, several diagonal corner creases in the upper right corner, corner tip wear/chipping on both right corners, etc. The back cover is overall slightly dirty with several round stain spots, and similar creasing, wrinkling, handling wear, etc. You can see pink on the back cover which appears to be crayon bleed from the coloring done on the inside back cover. The inside pages are clean but browned, with many having pin holes and small holes in the paper (we believe this is from how the paper was made/handled in printing). This copy includes two pages after the story illustrating and telling Aesop's Fables The Ant and the Dove, followed by a page illustrating and telling the Rub-A-Dub-Dub nursery rhyme, with an illustrated page The Animal World, The Flamingo on the reverse side.

This collectible comic book measures about 7 x 10 1/4 inches in size. Given that this is an old or vintage comic book, we do not know what kind of ink was used in the printing (and particularly, whether any lead based inks were used). As such, we will only sell this comic to adult collectors, it should be handled with care, and it should not be given to/handled by children due to concerns with lead exposure.

We have many other comic books listed separately for sale. If you wish to purchase more than one comic book, please e-mail us before placing the order since the shipping information has been inputted for a purchase of just one and will not calculate the savings you would get when purchasing more than one shipped together in the same package (we will need to handle this for you).

Please Note: Comic books must be shipped via U.S.P.S. First Class Mail Package rate; they cannot be shipped via U.S.P.S. Media Mail. The post office does not permit comic books to be shipped via Media Mail due to the advertising that many include in their books. Please choose First Class Mail Package rate shipping for this item (also known as First Class Mail Parcel rate). Thank you.